Location-based event affinity detangling for rolling broadcasts

ABSTRACT

Social media inputs from users, and specific to a content of a broadcast program, are analyzed to determine a sentiment value expressed relative to a portion of the content by a user. A group is formed of those users whose sentiment values expressed relative to the portion within a defined period during the broadcast of the program are within a specified tolerance value of sentiment value expressed by the user. A time zone of a location extracted from a social media input of the user is assigned to the group. A fabricated event that evokes a predicted sentiment is inserted in the broadcast program. A confidence value for the time zone is computed by comparing a sentiment value of a response by the group to the fabricated event with the predicted sentiment value. The group&#39;s placement in the time zone is confirmed when the confidence value exceeds a threshold.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a method, system, andcomputer program product for accurately measuring sentiment response tobroadcast programming from users in different time zones. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a method, system, andcomputer program product for location-based event affinity detanglingfor rolling broadcasts.

BACKGROUND

Hereinafter, content disseminated via any broadcasting medium isinterchangeably referred to as simply “broadcast,” “program,” or“broadcast program” unless expressly disambiguated where used. A timezone refers to a geographic region that maintains and observes the samestandard time across that region.

A broadcast is said to roll over time zones when the same broadcast isinitiated at different times relative to Zulu time in different timezones. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is also referred to as Zulu time orCoordinated Universal Time (French: Temps universel coordonné),abbreviated as UTC.

For example, a televised program may roll over the time zones of thecontinental United States when the program is broadcast at 8:00 PM ineach time zone. That is, the program may be broadcast at 8 PM in EasternStandard Time which is UTC minus 5 hours, at 8 PM in Central StandardTime which is UTC minus 6 hours, at 8 PM in Mountain Standard Time whichis UTC minus 7 hours, and so on.

Analysis of the sentiments expressed by the users who receive theprogram is an important consideration in the broadcasting industry.Whether a program or a portion thereof has evoked a desired sentiment,to a desired degree, or both, is a key factor in determining the contentselection, the broadcast timing, the selection of time zones where thebroadcast will occur, the selection of times in various time zones whenthe broadcast will occur there, and many other factors.

SUMMARY

The illustrative embodiments provide a method, system, and computerprogram product. An embodiment includes a method that analyzes socialmedia inputs (inputs) from a plurality of users, wherein the inputs arespecific to a content of a broadcast program, the analyzing determininga sentiment value expressed relative to a portion of the content by auser in the plurality of users. The embodiment forms a group of thoseusers whose sentiment values expressed relative to the portion of thecontent are within a specified tolerance value of sentiment valueexpressed by the user, wherein the sentiment values of the group ofusers are expressed within a defined period during the broadcast of theprogram, the group of users including the user. The embodiment assignsto the group a time zone of a location extracted from a social mediainput of the user. The embodiment inserts a fabricated event in thebroadcast program, wherein the fabricated event evokes a predictedsentiment value. The embodiment computes a confidence valuecorresponding to the time zone by comparing a sentiment value of aresponse by the group to the fabricated event with the predictedsentiment value. The embodiment confirms that the group is placed in thetime zone responsive to the confidence value exceeding a threshold.

An embodiment includes a computer usable program product. The computerusable program product includes one or more computer-readable storagedevices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one ormore storage devices.

An embodiment includes a computer system. The computer system includesone or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and oneor more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructionsstored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for executionby at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of theone or more memories.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well asa preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, willbest be understood by reference to the following detailed description ofthe illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a network of data processing systemsin which illustrative embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system in whichillustrative embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 3 depicts a graph of entangled sentiments across time zones, whichcan be untangled with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram of an example application for rollingbroadcast event affinity detangling using location information fromsocial data in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram of an example application for acombination method of location-based event affinity detangling forrolling broadcasts in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5A depicts a flowchart of an example process for event affinitydetangling using social media embedded location information inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5B depicts a flowchart of an example process for location-basedevent affinity detangling for rolling broadcasts in accordance with anillustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 5C depicts a flowchart of an example process for mapping the groupsentiment to the rolling program segment in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The illustrative embodiments recognize that due to the rolling nature ofmany types of broadcast programming, different groups of users, who arelocated in different time zones receive the program content at differenttimes. The users react to the program content on social media. At anygiven time, different segments of the program may be broadcast indifferent time zones. Therefore, at any given time, the sentimentsexpressed by different user groups in different time zones are inresponse to different program segments.

For example, assume that in an overly simplified example scenario, aprogram has a first segment that evokes happy sentiments and a secondsegment that evokes sad sentiments. Further assume that the broadcast ofthe program rolls over two time zones such that at time T, the firstsegment is broadcasting in the second time zone and the broadcast in thefirst time zone has already moved on to the second segment. At time T,the sentiment value expressed in social media data by the users in thefirst time zone will be generally indicative of a sad sentiment, whereasthe sentiment value expressed in social media data by the users in thesecond time zone will be generally indicative of a happy sentiment.Thus, at time T, the sentiment response to the program is muddled,ambiguous, unclear, when the time zones of the reacting users cannot bereliably established.

As a specific example, it is well-known that the television coverage ofthe Olympic games was broadcast in almost every time zone in the world.The Olympics broadcast scrambled event schedules dramatically. In somecases, the broadcast carried the content of live events, which wasbroadcast at very inconvenient times in some time zones. Somebroadcasters therefore elected to broadcast recorded content from thoseevents at prime time in the time zones where the broadcaster providedservice. For example, American networks showed events many hours afterthey happened, and often saved the most popular events for prime timeregardless of when they actually happened. The broadcast of anyparticular event had very little relevance to when the event actuallyoccurred. Thus, the illustrative embodiments recognize that anyonewatching an event and commenting about it on social media would eitherhave their sentiment mixed with fans around the world who either hadseen the event already, or might be complaining about spoilers becausethey had not seen the event yet.

Generally, the illustrative embodiments recognize that interpreting anevent's popularity or affinity is challenging given entangled pseudoindependent variables of the users' sentiment response to the event.This challenge is complicated even further when events are broadcast ina time delayed fashion across multiple time zones. As in an exampledescribed earlier, social sentiment from viewers on the East coast isrecorded first, but when other time zones “light up” after the firsthour of the broadcast the sentiment from viewers across multiple timezones becomes muddled with the reactions to what is being broadcast inother time zones. For instance, viewers watching a tribute for alifetime achievement award that is being broadcast at the top of hourtwo on the East Coast will have a very different social sentiment thanviewers watching the opening ceremony that is being broadcast in theCentral Time Zone but these reactions will register on social media atthe same time.

Thus, the illustrative embodiments recognize that when monitoring thesocial sentiment for live events that are being televised on a timedelay per time zone adjustments need to be made to detangle sentimentper time zone. The illustrative embodiments further recognize that whilelocation information is sometimes associated with social media inputs ofusers, such information is not always available or reliable. Thus, theillustrative embodiments recognize that the location informationassociated social media data to filter user sentiments according to timezones should be relied upon judiciously and may requirecross-verification or reinforcement of the location determined from thelocation information embedded in social media data. A solution is neededto untangle the entangled sentiments created on social media due to therolling broadcast times, in which the location information in the socialmedia data can be used with a requisite degree of confidence andreliability.

The illustrative embodiments recognize that the presently availabletools or solutions do not address these needs or provide adequatesolutions for these needs. The illustrative embodiments used to describethe invention generally address and solve the above-described problemsand other problems related to location-based event affinity detanglingfor rolling broadcasts.

An embodiment can be implemented as a software application. Theapplication implementing an embodiment can be configured as amodification of an existing social media data analysis system, as aseparate application that operates in conjunction with an existingsocial media data analysis system, a standalone application, or somecombination thereof.

An embodiment determines or creates a set of segments of the content ofa program that is broadcast in a rolling manner over several time zones.For a segment, the embodiment determines a type of sentiment, a degreeof that type of sentiment a timing of that sentiment within the segment,or some combination thereof. The type, degree, timing, or somecombination thereof can be represented in a value or set of values.

An embodiment receives a social media data feed (hereinafter referred toas “feed” or “social data” for compactness). The feed includes socialmedia inputs—such as tweets, posts, comments, likes, dislikes, and othersimilarly purposed inputs—from a plurality of users. The plurality ofusers is scattered across different time zones.

Furthermore, the embodiment uses any location information that may beassociated with any particular input of any particular user within thefeed in a variety of ways. As one example, one embodiment uses thelocation information from social data to conclusively establish timezone of a group without needing any other method for that purpose.Another example embodiment uses the location information from socialdata to bootstrap or cross-verify a location or time zone determined byother methods. Another example embodiment uses the location informationfrom social data to boost or reduce a confidence in a location or timezone determined by other methods.

From the feed, the embodiment analyzes the inputs pertaining to thebroadcast. Particularly, the embodiment analyzes the sentimentsexpressed by the users relative to the program.

In one embodiment, a sentiment ontology can be used to determine thesentiment value or values associated with a user's input relative to theprogram. An example sentiment ontology may include a node indicative ofa social tone characteristic, which may have child nodes comprisingsocial propensity, language style, and emotion sub-characteristics. Theexample sentiment ontology may include another node indicative of asocial sentiment characteristic, which may have child nodes comprisingpositive, negative, and neutral sub-characteristics.

These examples of a sentiment ontology and the nodes therein are notintended to be limiting. From this disclosure, those of ordinary skillin the art will be able to conceive many other nodes that may be presentin a more complex or different sentiment ontology, and the same arecontemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments.

An embodiment groups those users into a group who are expressing similarsentiments about similar content of the program at approximately thesame time (i.e., during a specified period). In other words, theembodiment forms groups of users where a group has a sentiment valuewithin a tolerance of a threshold sentiment value, related to a portionof the program, where that sentiment value is expressed within aspecified period in the feed. The grouping implies that the users in agiven group are all consuming the same content segment and responding tothat content segment with sentiments in social media.

An embodiment attempts to place a group in a time zone. In other words,the embodiment performs further operations to assign a time zone to agroup. To place a group in a time zone, the embodiment analyzes thelocation information embedded in the social data of one or more users inthe group.

For example, messages of one or more users assigned to a group mayinclude geotags which provide the location of those users in a suitablemanner. For example, the geotag may include a latitude and longitudethat is generally attributed to a user, e.g., a city or a region fromwhere the user is registered in a given social medium. As anotherexample, the geotag may include a latitude and longitude of a specificlocation, an address, a landmark name, or a name of a city or a regionfrom where the user contributed the message to a given social medium.

In some cases, the embedded location information may be conclusive forestablishing a location and the corresponding time zone for a group. Forexample, a determination that a group is located in a specific time zoneis conclusive when the location information of a greater than athreshold portion of the group affirmatively indicates that those usersare presently contributing social data from within a specific locationboundary, such as a time zone.

In some cases, the embedded location information may not be conclusivefor establishing a location and the corresponding time zone for a group.For example, a determination that a group is located in a specific timezone is not conclusive when the location information of at least one ormore users in the group is statically defined at registration, isstagnant or old for other reasons, is unavailable in the social databeing analyzed, or in inconsistent in the social data being analyzed.

When a time zone of the group cannot be established conclusively, i.e.,with a specified degree of confidence, an embodiment supplements—i.e.,verifies, validates, reinforces, bootstraps—the location informationfrom the social data with location determined by another method. Theembodiment increases the confidence in the determined time zone usingsuch supplementation.

In one example method of supplementing, an embodiment increases theconfidence in the location information obtained from social data asfollows—given the location determined from the social data, theembodiment selects a locale-specific event. The locale is the regionrepresented by the location information of the social data. Alocale-specific event comprises a person, place, thing, or occurrencerelated to the locale in such a manner that a user who is situated inthe locale is likely, in excess of a threshold degree of likelihood, torespond to the event with a predicted sentiment. For example, if thelocale is Oakland, Calif., a user situated in Oakland is likely toexpress a favorable sentiment towards an event of a victory of a localsports team.

The embodiment fabricates a locale-specific event that is designed toevoke a predicted sentiment values or emotional response values from auser in a location that is determined from the social data. Theembodiment injects the locale-specific event into the broadcast of theprogram in the time zone corresponding to that location. Any number ofdistinct events evoking distinct sentiment values can be fabricated in asimilar manner.

When the members of the group that is expected to be situated in thattime zone respond to the injected fabricated event, the embodimentmeasures the sentiment value, e.g., the type and/or the degree ofsentiment, in the response. The embodiment determines whether themeasured sentiment value from the group in response to the injectedevent matches, or has a significant correspondence to, the predictedsentiment value.

If the measures sentiment value matches, or has a significantcorrespondence to, the predicted sentiment value for the injected event,the embodiment considers the location determined from the social data asthe location of the group and assigns the group the corresponding timezone. If the match or correspondence in the selected time zone is belowa threshold degree of match or correspondence, the embodiment considersother locations—if available—in the social data for the group andperforms a similar determination of the time zone. The embodimentselects the best fitting time zone for the group. The confidence in theselected time zone for the group is a function of the degree of match orcorrespondence between the measured sentiment value and the predictedsentiment value.

Another embodiment fabricates a local channel-specific event that isdesigned to evoke a predicted sentiment values or emotional responsevalues from a user who is situated in a location determined from thesocial data. A local channel is a broadcasting channel, e.g., atelevision channel or a streaming channel, that is broadcasting theprogram segments in the location determined from the social data. Theembodiment analyzes the local content that has already been broadcastover the local channel in the recent past, e.g., within several minutesor several hours of a program segment such that the users situated inthat location are likely to have perceived that local content.

The local channel-specific event is an event that is fabricated usingsuch local content. For example, if the local content was a local roadconstruction report, the fabricated event can be a fabricated newsstating that the road has opened (evoking a positive sentiment value),or that the road remains closed (evoking a negative sentiment value).The embodiment injects the local channel-specific event into thebroadcast occurring on that local channel in that location. Any numberof distinct events evoking distinct sentiment values can be fabricatedin a similar manner.

When the members of the group that is expected to be situated in thatlocation respond to the injected fabricated event, the embodimentmeasures the sentiment value, e.g., the type and/or the degree ofsentiment, in the response. The embodiment determines whether themeasured sentiment value from the group in response to the injectedevent matches, or has a significant correspondence to, the predictedsentiment value.

If the measures sentiment value matches, or has a significantcorrespondence to, the predicted sentiment value for the injected event,the embodiment considers the location determined from the social data asthe location of the group and assigns the group the corresponding timezone. If the match or correspondence in the selected time zone is belowa threshold degree of match or correspondence, the embodiment considersother locations—if available—in the social data for the group andperforms a similar determination of the time zone using such otherlocations. The embodiment selects the best fitting time zone for thegroup. Again, the confidence in the selected time zone for the group isa function of the degree of match or correspondence between the measuredsentiment value and the predicted sentiment value.

Using the local-specific events, local channel-specific events, or somecombination thereof, an embodiment computes a time zone that can beassigned to the group. The embodiment also computes a confidence valuecorresponding to that time zone in a manner described herein.

This manner of time zone determination can be implemented using arecurrent neural network (RNN). Recurrent neural networks (RNN) arenetworks with recurrent connections (going in the opposite directionthat the “normal” signal flow) which form cycles in the network'stopology. Computations derived from earlier input are fed back into thenetwork, which gives an RNN something similar to a short-term memory.Feedback networks, such as RNNs, are dynamic; their ‘state’ is changingcontinuously until they reach an equilibrium point. For this reason,RNNs are particularly suited for detecting relationships across time ina given set of data.

Using an RNN, the relationships between users or groups of users andlocations can be determined, which can help improve the confidence inthe time zone determination for the groups, as described herein. Deeplearning methods can be used to train the RNN for improving theconfidence in the RNN output.

This manner of using social data-derived location information todetermine a time zone of a group can be used independently or tosupplement a time zone determination performed using another method. Theconfidence value obtained from this manner of time zone determinationcan be used to increase or decrease a confidence value in the time zonedetermined by other methods described herein.

For example, an embodiment may determine the time zone of a group byemploying method that is not dependent upon the location informationembedded in the social data. For example, to place a group in a timezone, the embodiment analyzes other social data—non-programcontent-specific social data—of one or more users in the group. Forexample, a user in the group may have been tweeting about a mountainhiking activity that the user engages in on a regular basis. Theanalysis performed by the embodiment identifies one or more geographicalreferences, features, objects, regions, people, or things (commonlyreferred to as “entities”) that commonly and historically feature in thenon-program content-specific social data of the user or users in thegroup. The social data of any number of users of a group can be analyzedin this manner.

Using proprietary knowledge repositories or commonly available datasources, an embodiment determines a geographical location that is knownto be associated with an identified entity. The embodiment then assignsthe group the time zone of that determined geographical location. Forexample, if several users of a group have commented on a marathoncrossing over the Golden Gate bridge—an example entity—on a particularlywindy day, and knowing that the Golden gate bridge is in San Francisco,Calif., the embodiment would place that group in the Pacific time zone.

While for a majority of the groups, an embodiment is able to place agroup in a singular time zone with a requisite degree of certainty, inmany cases the analyses described herein do not succeed in identifying asingular time zone for a group with sufficient degree of certainty. Forexample, it may be possible that some members of the group are travelingto different time zones and causing entities from different time zonesto occur with enough frequency or numerosity in the social data that thedescribed analysis cannot associate a singular time zone with the group.Such a group is referred to herein as an ambiguous time zone group.

It is possible that an ambiguous time zone group may have two, three, ormore time zones where the group could possibly be located. Suppose anembodiment has identified n possible time zones for the ambiguous timezone group. The embodiment fabricates n distinct events that can bebroadcast to the n possible time zones—one distinct fabricated event perpossible time zone. Furthermore, the embodiment fabricates the n eventssuch that their respective contents evoke significantly distinctsentiments. For example, if two events were fabricated, one could be ahappy event—evoking a sentiment value corresponding to a requisitedegree of happiness sentiment, such as the news of a sporting victory;and another could be a sad event-evoking a sentiment value correspondingto a requisite degree of sad sentiment, such as a picture or video ofthe death of a well-liked animal. Any number of distinct events evokingdistinct sentiment values can be fabricated in a similar manner.

The embodiment injects different fabricated events into the broadcastingin the different possible time zones where the group is likely to beplaced. When the members of the group respond to the injected fabricatedevent, the embodiment measures the sentiment value, e.g., the typeand/or the degree of sentiment, in the response. Because each event isdistinct, and because each distinct event has a distinct sentimentsignature (combination of sentiment values), the measured sentimentvalue from the group in response to the injected event is likely to havea significant correspondence to only one of the injected events.

Depending upon the injected event that most closely corresponds to themeasured sentiment response to the injection, the embodiment isolatesthe time zone where that particular event was injected. The embodimentdisambiguates the ambiguous time zone of the group and associates thegroup with only the isolated time zone.

The dispersion of the users can be across time zones such that some timezones are irrelevant for determining the response to certain programs.For example, while the Olympic games may be broadcast in fifteen timezones, a broadcaster in the United States may only be interested in theresponse from the six US time zones and not from the remaining nine timezones outside the US.

Accordingly, an embodiment further determines whether groups from acertain time zone are to be considered in the response analysis for agiven program content. If a time zone is not to be considered, theembodiment removes the groups that are placed in that time zone fromfurther response analysis.

For the remaining groups in the time zones that are to be considered,the embodiment now has associated with each such group a single timezone with sufficient degree of certainty.

The time zone and the confidence value determined using locationinformation from the social data, and the time zone and the confidencevalue determined using other social data can be combined. An embodimentcombines the time zone and confidence values from the different methodsin a Gaussian distribution manner. This distribution results in a timezone that is the best representative of the group among all the timezones that have been computed as likely where the group exists. Theembodiment assigns the best representative time zone to the group. Theassigning of the time zone may be different from, and change, apreviously assigned time zone that was determined by one or more of themethods described herein.

In an analysis described earlier herein, the sentiment value or valuesof some user responses corresponding to some program content weredetermined. The embodiment computes a sentiment value/values/signatureof the group using the sentiment values expressed by the members of thegroup.

The embodiment time-shifts the determined sentimentvalue/values/signature of the group to the correct time zone. In otherwords, using the time zone of the group, the embodiment aligns thesentiment value of the group with the correct segment of the programthat was being broadcast in that time zone when the sentiments wereexpressed. Thus, the embodiment untangles the entangled sentimentresponses of the users from different time zones to programming that isbroadcast in a rolling manner across different time zones.

The manner of location-based event affinity detangling for rollingbroadcasts described herein is unavailable in the presently availablemethods. A method of an embodiment described herein, when implemented toexecute on a device or data processing system, comprises substantialadvancement of the functionality of that device or data processingsystem in untangling the entangled sentiment responses of the users fromdifferent time zones to programming that is broadcast in a rollingmanner across different time zones.

The illustrative embodiments are described with respect to certain typesof programs, contents, segments, broadcasts, time zone, users, groups,social media, social media inputs, feeds, entities, fabricated events,locale-specific events, local channel-specific events, sentiments,sentiment values, sentiment signature, confidence levels, degrees ofmatch or correspondence, distribution, devices, data processing systems,environments, components, and applications only as examples. Anyspecific manifestations of these and other similar artifacts are notintended to be limiting to the invention. Any suitable manifestation ofthese and other similar artifacts can be selected within the scope ofthe illustrative embodiments.

Furthermore, the illustrative embodiments may be implemented withrespect to any type of data, data source, or access to a data sourceover a data network. Any type of data storage device may provide thedata to an embodiment of the invention, either locally at a dataprocessing system or over a data network, within the scope of theinvention. Where an embodiment is described using a mobile device, anytype of data storage device suitable for use with the mobile device mayprovide the data to such embodiment, either locally at the mobile deviceor over a data network, within the scope of the illustrativeembodiments.

The illustrative embodiments are described using specific code, designs,architectures, protocols, layouts, schematics, and tools only asexamples and are not limiting to the illustrative embodiments.Furthermore, the illustrative embodiments are described in someinstances using particular software, tools, and data processingenvironments only as an example for the clarity of the description. Theillustrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with othercomparable or similarly purposed structures, systems, applications, orarchitectures. For example, other comparable mobile devices, structures,systems, applications, or architectures therefor, may be used inconjunction with such embodiment of the invention within the scope ofthe invention. An illustrative embodiment may be implemented inhardware, software, or a combination thereof.

The examples in this disclosure are used only for the clarity of thedescription and are not limiting to the illustrative embodiments.Additional data, operations, actions, tasks, activities, andmanipulations will be conceivable from this disclosure and the same arecontemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments.

Any advantages listed herein are only examples and are not intended tobe limiting to the illustrative embodiments. Additional or differentadvantages may be realized by specific illustrative embodiments.Furthermore, a particular illustrative embodiment may have some, all, ornone of the advantages listed above.

With reference to the figures and in particular with reference to FIGS.1 and 2, these figures are example diagrams of data processingenvironments in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. FIGS.1 and 2 are only examples and are not intended to assert or imply anylimitation with regard to the environments in which differentembodiments may be implemented. A particular implementation may makemany modifications to the depicted environments based on the followingdescription.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a network of data processing systemsin which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. Data processingenvironment 100 is a network of computers in which the illustrativeembodiments may be implemented. Data processing environment 100 includesnetwork 102. Network 102 is the medium used to provide communicationslinks between various devices and computers connected together withindata processing environment 100. Network 102 may include connections,such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.

Clients or servers are only example roles of certain data processingsystems connected to network 102 and are not intended to exclude otherconfigurations or roles for these data processing systems. Server 104and server 106 couple to network 102 along with storage unit 108.Software applications may execute on any computer in data processingenvironment 100. Clients 110, 112, and 114 are also coupled to network102. A data processing system, such as server 104 or 106, or client 110,112, or 114 may contain data and may have software applications orsoftware tools executing thereon.

Only as an example, and without implying any limitation to sucharchitecture, FIG. 1 depicts certain components that are usable in anexample implementation of an embodiment. For example, servers 104 and106, and clients 110, 112, 114, are depicted as servers and clients onlyas example and not to imply a limitation to a client-serverarchitecture. As another example, an embodiment can be distributedacross several data processing systems and a data network as shown,whereas another embodiment can be implemented on a single dataprocessing system within the scope of the illustrative embodiments. Dataprocessing systems 104, 106, 110, 112, and 114 also represent examplenodes in a cluster, partitions, and other configurations suitable forimplementing an embodiment.

Device 132 is an example of a device described herein. For example,device 132 can take the form of a smartphone, a tablet computer, alaptop computer, client 110 in a stationary or a portable form, awearable computing device, or any other suitable device. Any softwareapplication described as executing in another data processing system inFIG. 1 can be configured to execute in device 132 in a similar manner.Any data or information stored or produced in another data processingsystem in FIG. 1 can be configured to be stored or produced in device132 in a similar manner.

Application 105 implements an embodiment described herein. Social mediadata source 107 supplies a social media data feed to application 105 forthe operations described herein. Broadcaster 142 broadcasts a programcontent in a rolling manner across several time zones. For example, at agiven time T, broadcaster 142 sends segment 144A to time zone 1 in whichdevice 132 associated with a user, and other devices associated withother users are present; broadcaster 142 sends segment 144B to time zone2 in which device client 112 associated with a user, and other devicesassociated with other users are present; and broadcaster 142 sendssegment 144C to time zone n in which client 110 associated with oneuser, client 114 associated with another user, and other devicesassociated with other users are present. Device 132, clients 110-114 aresome non-limiting examples of devices that users use to provide socialmedia reaction inputs, which form the feed provided by data source 107.

Servers 104 and 106, storage unit 108, and clients 110, 112, and 114,and device 132 may couple to network 102 using wired connections,wireless communication protocols, or other suitable data connectivity.Clients 110, 112, and 114 may be, for example, personal computers ornetwork computers.

In the depicted example, server 104 may provide data, such as bootfiles, operating system images, and applications to clients 110, 112,and 114. Clients 110, 112, and 114 may be clients to server 104 in thisexample. Clients 110, 112, 114, or some combination thereof, may includetheir own data, boot files, operating system images, and applications.Data processing environment 100 may include additional servers, clients,and other devices that are not shown.

In the depicted example, data processing environment 100 may be theInternet. Network 102 may represent a collection of networks andgateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) and other protocols to communicate with one another. At theheart of the Internet is a backbone of data communication links betweenmajor nodes or host computers, including thousands of commercial,governmental, educational, and other computer systems that route dataand messages. Of course, data processing environment 100 also may beimplemented as a number of different types of networks, such as forexample, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network(WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as an example, and not as an architecturallimitation for the different illustrative embodiments.

Among other uses, data processing environment 100 may be used forimplementing a client-server environment in which the illustrativeembodiments may be implemented. A client-server environment enablessoftware applications and data to be distributed across a network suchthat an application functions by using the interactivity between aclient data processing system and a server data processing system. Dataprocessing environment 100 may also employ a service orientedarchitecture where interoperable software components distributed acrossa network may be packaged together as coherent business applications.Data processing environment 100 may also take the form of a cloud, andemploy a cloud computing model of service delivery for enablingconvenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurablecomputing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers,processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, andservices) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimalmanagement effort or interaction with a provider of the service.

With reference to FIG. 2, this figure depicts a block diagram of a dataprocessing system in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented.Data processing system 200 is an example of a computer, such as servers104 and 106, or clients 110, 112, and 114 in FIG. 1, or another type ofdevice in which computer usable program code or instructionsimplementing the processes may be located for the illustrativeembodiments.

Data processing system 200 is also representative of a data processingsystem or a configuration therein, such as data processing system 132 inFIG. 1 in which computer usable program code or instructionsimplementing the processes of the illustrative embodiments may belocated. Data processing system 200 is described as a computer only asan example, without being limited thereto. Implementations in the formof other devices, such as device 132 in FIG. 1, may modify dataprocessing system 200, such as by adding a touch interface, and eveneliminate certain depicted components from data processing system 200without departing from the general description of the operations andfunctions of data processing system 200 described herein.

In the depicted example, data processing system 200 employs a hubarchitecture including North Bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH)202 and South Bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (SB/ICH) 204.Processing unit 206, main memory 208, and graphics processor 210 arecoupled to North Bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH) 202.Processing unit 206 may contain one or more processors and may beimplemented using one or more heterogeneous processor systems.Processing unit 206 may be a multi-core processor. Graphics processor210 may be coupled to NB/MCH 202 through an accelerated graphics port(AGP) in certain implementations.

In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 212 is coupledto South Bridge and I/O controller hub (SB/ICH) 204. Audio adapter 216,keyboard and mouse adapter 220, modem 222, read only memory (ROM) 224,universal serial bus (USB) and other ports 232, and PCI/PCIe devices 234are coupled to South Bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 238.Hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) 226 and CD-ROM 230 arecoupled to South Bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 240.PCI/PCIe devices 234 may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-incards, and PC cards for notebook computers. PCI uses a card buscontroller, while PCIe does not. ROM 224 may be, for example, a flashbinary input/output system (BIOS). Hard disk drive 226 and CD-ROM 230may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE), serialadvanced technology attachment (SATA) interface, or variants such asexternal-SATA (eSATA) and micro-SATA (mSATA). A super I/O (SIO) device236 may be coupled to South Bridge and I/O controller hub (SB/ICH) 204through bus 238.

Memories, such as main memory 208, ROM 224, or flash memory (not shown),are some examples of computer usable storage devices. Hard disk drive orsolid state drive 226, CD-ROM 230, and other similarly usable devicesare some examples of computer usable storage devices including acomputer usable storage medium.

An operating system runs on processing unit 206. The operating systemcoordinates and provides control of various components within dataprocessing system 200 in FIG. 2. The operating system may be acommercially available operating system for any type of computingplatform, including but not limited to server systems, personalcomputers, and mobile devices. An object oriented or other type ofprogramming system may operate in conjunction with the operating systemand provide calls to the operating system from programs or applicationsexecuting on data processing system 200.

Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programmingsystem, and applications or programs, such as application 105 in FIG. 1,are located on storage devices, such as in the form of code 226A on harddisk drive 226, and may be loaded into at least one of one or morememories, such as main memory 208, for execution by processing unit 206.The processes of the illustrative embodiments may be performed byprocessing unit 206 using computer implemented instructions, which maybe located in a memory, such as, for example, main memory 208, read onlymemory 224, or in one or more peripheral devices.

Furthermore, in one case, code 226A may be downloaded over network 201Afrom remote system 201B, where similar code 201C is stored on a storagedevice 201D. in another case, code 226A may be downloaded over network201A to remote system 201B, where downloaded code 201C is stored on astorage device 201D.

The hardware in FIGS. 1-2 may vary depending on the implementation.Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory,equivalent non-volatile memory, or optical disk drives and the like, maybe used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIGS.1-2. In addition, the processes of the illustrative embodiments may beapplied to a multiprocessor data processing system.

In some illustrative examples, data processing system 200 may be apersonal digital assistant (PDA), which is generally configured withflash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating systemfiles and/or user-generated data. A bus system may comprise one or morebuses, such as a system bus, an I/O bus, and a PCI bus. Of course, thebus system may be implemented using any type of communications fabric orarchitecture that provides for a transfer of data between differentcomponents or devices attached to the fabric or architecture.

A communications unit may include one or more devices used to transmitand receive data, such as a modem or a network adapter. A memory may be,for example, main memory 208 or a cache, such as the cache found inNorth Bridge and memory controller hub 202. A processing unit mayinclude one or more processors or CPUs.

The depicted examples in FIGS. 1-2 and above-described examples are notmeant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processingsystem 200 also may be a tablet computer, laptop computer, or telephonedevice in addition to taking the form of a mobile or wearable device.

Where a computer or data processing system is described as a virtualmachine, a virtual device, or a virtual component, the virtual machine,virtual device, or the virtual component operates in the manner of dataprocessing system 200 using virtualized manifestation of some or allcomponents depicted in data processing system 200. For example, in avirtual machine, virtual device, or virtual component, processing unit206 is manifested as a virtualized instance of all or some number ofhardware processing units 206 available in a host data processingsystem, main memory 208 is manifested as a virtualized instance of allor some portion of main memory 208 that may be available in the hostdata processing system, and disk 226 is manifested as a virtualizedinstance of all or some portion of disk 226 that may be available in thehost data processing system. The host data processing system in suchcases is represented by data processing system 200.

With reference to FIG. 3, this figure depicts a graph of entangledsentiments across time zones, which can be untangled with anillustrative embodiment. Graph 300 is plotted with a timeline of aprogram continuum along the X-axis and an example measured normalizedsentiment value, e.g., tone significance, plotted along the y-axis.Legend 302 shows the various sentiments represented in graph 300.

Different segments of the program continuum are broadcast in differenttime zones at any given time, as described herein. The differentsegments may evoke different sentiments. However, looking at graph 300,it is difficult to determine which sentiment corresponds to whichsegment of the program continuum. For example, it is likely in a rollingbroadcast that the peak in surprise at time 13 is really a surprisecorresponding to a program segment at time 1, which is just starting tobroadcast in a delayed time zone and the peak in hope sentiment at aboutthe same time corresponds to a segment at time 13 in first time zonewhere the broadcast started.

With reference to FIG. 4A, this figure depicts a block diagram of anexample application for rolling broadcast event affinity detanglingusing location information from social data in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

Application 402 is an example of application 105 in FIG. 1. Social mediadata 404 is a feed provided from social media data source 107 in FIG. 1.Rolling broadcast data 406 is provided by broadcaster 142 in FIG. 1 andincludes information such as program timeline, program content,segments, program metadata, and related information. Sentiment ontologyis an example ontology configured and usable for assessing a user'ssentiment in response to a program content.

Component 410 analyzes the program content from rolling broadcast data406 to determine the sentiments evoked by the program content.Particularly, component 410 analyzes the program content for determiningthe values corresponding to sentiment type, degree, timing, or somecombination thereof, (i.e., sentiment signature), corresponding to thevarious segments of the program content.

Component 412 creates groups of users as described herein. Particularly,component 412 analyzes social media data 404 to determine sentimentscorresponding to program content from rolling broadcast data 406 beingbroadcast. Using the content-specific sentiments, component 412 createsgroups of those users who are expressing similar sentiments relative tosimilar content during a common period.

Component 414 places a group according to the location informationembedded in the social data corresponding to the group. In some cases,the time zone of the group may be conclusive from the locationinformation embedded in the social data, as described herein.

When the time zone of a group is not conclusive, component 416fabricates one or more location-specific event, which evoke distinctpredictable sentiments. Subcomponent 416A, for example, constructs alocale-specific event and inserts the locale-specific event into thebroadcast in the inconclusive time zone of the group, as describedherein. Subcomponent 416C analyzes the sentiment response to theinsertion from the live data in social media data feed 404. For example,subcomponent 416C uses content-specific sentiment analysis of component412 to determine a degree of match or correspondence between theexpressed sentiment and the predicted sentiment for the fabricatedlocale-specific event.

Similarly, subcomponent 416B, for example, analyzes recent historicalcontent presented on a local channel in the location computed from thesocial media. Subcomponent 416B constructs a local channel-specificevent and inserts the local channel-specific event into the broadcast inthe local channel in the inconclusive location of the group, asdescribed herein. Subcomponent 416C analyzes the sentiment response tothe insertion from the live data in social media data feed 404. Forexample, subcomponent 416C uses content-specific sentiment analysis ofcomponent 412 to determine a degree of match or correspondence betweenthe expressed sentiment and the predicted sentiment for the fabricatedlocal channel-specific event.

Component 418 computes a confidence value for a time zone determined bycomponent 414, 416, or some combination thereof. When application 402 ora portion thereof is implemented using an RNN, subcomponent 418Aimplements a deep learning methodology to train the RNN.

component 420 computes the sentiment response for the group as a whole.Once each group has a singular time zone associated with the group,component 420 selects those groups that are to be considered in thesentiment analysis for the program, and time-shifts the sentimentresponse of the selected groups according to their respective timezones. Component 422 deletes or otherwise drops from consideration thosegroups that in the time zones that are not to be considered in thesentiment analysis for the program.

Component 424 maps the time-shifted group sentiment of a group to thecorrect program segment that was broadcast in the time zone of the groupduring the period of the sentiment. Component 424 outputs report 426.Report 426 provides untangled social media sentiment responses of usergroups in various time zones where the program was broadcast in arolling manner.

With reference to FIG. 4B, this figure depicts a block diagram of anexample application for a combination method of location-based eventaffinity detangling for rolling broadcasts in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Application 452 is an example of a modifiedapplication 402 in FIG. 4A. Reference numerals 404, 406, 408, 410, 412,414, 416, 416A, 416B, 416C, 418, and 418A in FIG. 4B represent the sameartifacts as described in FIG. 4A.

Application 452 may perform the time zone determination based on thelocation information of social data using components 410-418 asdescribed with respect to FIG. 4A. If an additional method of time zonedetermination has to be performed, e.g., to verify or validate the timezone determined from the location information of the social data, or forgaining better confidence in the group's time zone, application 452performs additional analysis of social data 404.

Using non-program content-specific data from the historical data insocial media data feed 404, component 464 extracts entities beingcommonly discussed by the users of a group, as described herein. Usingan entity and the entity's known locations, component 464 places thegroup by assigning the group the time zone of the location of theentity.

For an ambiguous time zone group, component 466 fabricates a set ofdistinct events, which evoke distinct sentiments, and inserts the eventsinto the broadcasts in the time zones of the ambiguous time zone group,as described herein. Subcomponent 468 analyzes the sentiment response tothe insertions from the live data in social media data feed 404. Forexample, subcomponent 468 uses content-specific sentiment analysis ofcomponent 412 to determine the expressed sentiment and the fabricatedevent to which the sentiment best corresponds.

A separate instance of component 418 may be implemented with each methodof time zone determination, or a common instance of component 418 may beused with multiple methods of time zone determination. Once differentmethods have computed their respective time zones for the group,component 470 determines one time zone to assign to the group. Forexample, component 470 implemented the Gaussian distribution method tofind the best fitting time zone from all the various computed time zonesfor the group.

components 420, 422, and 424 operate as described with respect to FIG.4A. Output 426 provides untangled social media sentiment responses ofuser groups in various time zones where the program was broadcast in arolling manner.

With reference to FIG. 5A, this figure depicts a flowchart of an exampleprocess for event affinity detangling using social media embeddedlocation information in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.Process 500 can be implemented using application 402 or 452 in FIG. 4Aor 4B, respectively.

The application analyzes the sentiments corresponding to varioussegments of a rolling broadcast program (block 502). With reference tothe program contents, the application analyzes content-specific data ina social media data feed to identify groups of users expressing similarsentiments about the same or similar content during a common period ofreactions (block 504). The analysis of block 504 uses a sentimentontology to evaluate the values of the sentiments expressed by theusers.

The application extracts embedded location information from the socialdata corresponding to the group (block 506). Using the extractedlocation information, the application initially places the group at alocation in an initial time zone (block 508).

Thereafter, two paths emerge in process 500—path 510-514 and path516-524. One or both of the paths can be taken by an implementationdepending on the circumstances.

In the first path, the application fabricates an event (event 1) thatevokes a specific sentiment using a feature or entity specific to thelocale of the extracted location information, such as to an area, city,or region where the group has been initially placed (block 510). Theapplication inserts event 1 into the broadcast in that locale (block512). The application analyzes the group's response to compute aconfidence level in the time zone of the initial placement (block 514).

In the second path, the application determines a channel that isbroadcasting the program in the locale where the group is initiallyplaced (block 516). The application analyzes a second program contentthat was broadcast on the channel in recent past, e.g., several minutesto several hours prior to the broadcasting of the program (block 518).

The application fabricates an event (event 2) related to the secondprogram (block 520). The application inserts event 2 in the broadcast ofthe program on the channel (block 522). The application analyzes thegroup's response to a compute a confidence level in the time zone of theinitial placement (block 524).

After either or both paths, the application determines whether thecomputed confidence exceeds a threshold (block 526). If the confidenceis insufficient (“No” path of block 526), the application exits via exit“A” to enter process 550 of FIG. 5B via a corresponding entry “A”therein. If the confidence is sufficient (“Yes” path of block 526), theapplication assigns to the group the best fitting time zone according tothe social data embedded location information (block 528). Theapplication may end process 500 thereafter, or exit via exit “B” toenter process 570 of FIG. 5C via corresponding entry “B” therein.

With reference to FIG. 5B, this figure depicts a flowchart of an exampleprocess for location-based event affinity detangling for rollingbroadcasts in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Process 550can be implemented in application 452 in FIG. 4B.

For a group, the application analyzes non-program content-specifichistorical data from the social media data feed to identify an entitywhose geographic location is known (block 552). Once the entity isidentified, the application locates or places the entity in a time zonecorresponding to the geographical location of the entity (block 554).The application places the group in the time zone of the entity (block556).

The application determines whether a group has more than one time zoneassociated with the group, i.e., whether any of the groups is anambiguous time zone group (block 558). If no group is an ambiguous timezone group (“No” path of block 558), the application proceeds to exit“B” to enter process 570 of FIG. 5C via corresponding entry “B” therein.

If a group is an ambiguous time zone group (“Yes” path of block 558),the application fabricates a number of events equal to the number oftime zones of the ambiguous time zone group, such that each fabricatedevent evokes a different sentiment (block 560). The application insertsdifferent fabricated events into the broadcast occurring in thedifferent time zones associated with the ambiguous time zone group(block 562).

The application analyzes the group's sentiment in response to theinjected events, to disambiguate the group to a single time zone (block564). The application assigns to the group only the disambiguated timezone (block 566). Thereafter, the application exits process 550 at exit“B” to enter process 570 of FIG. 5C via corresponding entry “B” therein.

With reference to FIG. 5C, this figure depicts a flowchart of an exampleprocess for mapping the group sentiment to the rolling program segmentin accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Process 570 can beimplemented using application 402 in FIG. 4A or application 452 in FIG.4B.

The application determines whether multiple placement methods havecomputed multiple time zones for the given group. If multiple placementmethods have computed multiple time zones for the given group, theapplication performs a Gaussian distribution method to determine thebest fit time zone for the group (block 572).

The application determines whether the group's time zone is to beconsidered in the sentiment analysis for the program (block 574). If thetime zone is to be considered (“Yes” path of block 574), the applicationtime-shifts the group's sentiment to the correct program segment thatwas being broadcast in that time zone at the time of the response (block576). If the time zone is not to be considered (“No” path of block 574),the application removes or otherwise disregards the group fromconsideration (block 578) and ends process 570 thereafter.

When the group's time zone is to be considered, the application outputsa mapping of the group's sentiment to the correct program segment (block580). The application ends process 570 thereafter.

Thus, a computer implemented method, system or apparatus, and computerprogram product are provided in the illustrative embodiments forlocation-based event affinity detangling for rolling broadcasts andother related features, functions, or operations. Where an embodiment ora portion thereof is described with respect to a type of device, thecomputer implemented method, system or apparatus, the computer programproduct, or a portion thereof, are adapted or configured for use with asuitable and comparable manifestation of that type of device.

Where an embodiment is described as implemented in an application, thedelivery of the application in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model iscontemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments. In a SaaSmodel, the capability of the application implementing an embodiment isprovided to a user by executing the application in a cloudinfrastructure. The user can access the application using a variety ofclient devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser(e.g., web-based e-mail), or other light-weight client-applications. Theuser does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding the network, servers, operating systems, or the storage of thecloud infrastructure. In some cases, the user may not even manage orcontrol the capabilities of the SaaS application. In some other cases,the SaaS implementation of the application may permit a possibleexception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: analyzing social mediainputs (inputs) from a plurality of users, wherein the inputs arespecific to a content of a broadcast program, the analyzing determininga sentiment value expressed relative to a portion of the content by auser in the plurality of users; forming a group of those users whosesentiment values expressed relative to the portion of the content arewithin a specified tolerance value of sentiment value expressed by theuser; assigning to the group a time zone of a location extracted from asocial media input of the user; inserting a fabricated event in thebroadcast program, wherein the fabricated event evokes a predictedsentiment value; computing a confidence value corresponding to the timezone by comparing a sentiment value of a response by the group to thefabricated event with the predicted sentiment value; and confirming thatthe group is placed in the time zone responsive to the confidence valueexceeding a threshold.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:identifying a channel that is broadcasting the program in a region inthe time zone where the group is placed; analyzing a second program thatwas broadcast on the channel prior to the program; constructing thefabricated event such that the fabricated event is related to the secondprogram; and causing, as a part of the inserting, the fabricated eventto be presented via the channel.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thesentiment values of the group of users are expressed within a definedperiod during the broadcast of the program, the group of users includingthe user, and wherein the confirming is responsive to the groupreceiving the fabricated event via the channel.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising: constructing the fabricated event such that thefabricated event is related to an entity corresponding to a region inthe time zone where the group is placed.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: shifting, by an amount of time on a programcontinuum timeline, a sentiment of the group expressed relative to theportion of the content such that the sentiment of the group aligns witha time when the portion was broadcast in the time zone; and outputting asentiment analysis report of the broadcast program, the reportcomprising time-shifted sentiment values of a plurality of groups,wherein the plurality of groups is scattered across a plurality of timezones, and wherein the broadcast begins at different times relative toZulu time in different time zones in a rolling manner.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: computing the sentiment of the group byapplying a function to the sentiment values expressed by the users inthe group relative to the portion of the content.
 7. The method of claim1, further comprising: determining using a second method a second timezone as a possible location of the group, the second time zone having acorresponding second confidence value; distributing each time zoneapplicable to the group according to a Gaussian distribution; andreassigning to the group a final time zone, the final time zone beingthe best fitting time zone according to the Gaussian distribution. 8.The method of claim 7, further comprising: analyzing, as a part of thesecond method, a historical data from the inputs to extract an entity,wherein the historical data is unrelated to the content; associating asecond time zone of a geographical location of the entity with thegroup; and shifting, by an amount of time on a program continuumtimeline, a sentiment of the group expressed relative to the portion ofthe content such that the sentiment of the group aligns with a time whenthe portion was broadcast in the second time zone; and outputting asentiment analysis report of the broadcast program, the reportcomprising time-shifted sentiment values of a plurality of groups,wherein the plurality of groups is scattered across a plurality of timezones, and wherein the broadcast begins at different times relative toZulu time in different time zones in a rolling manner.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: determining that the group corresponds to aplurality of time zones because the analyzing the historical dataextracts a plurality of entities corresponding to the plurality of timezones; fabricating new event contents corresponding to a plurality ofnew events, each new event corresponding to a time zone in the pluralityof time zones of the group, and each new event evoking a differentsentiment value from the users in the group; inserting in a firstbroadcast occurring in a first time zone of the group a first new eventcontent corresponding to a first new event from the plurality of newevents; inserting in a second broadcast occurring in a second time zoneof the group a second new event content corresponding to a second newevent from the plurality of new events; evaluating a new sentimentexpressed in the inputs from the users in the group to determine thatthe new sentiment corresponds to a sentiment evoked by the first newevent; disambiguating, responsive to the evaluating, the group tocorrespond to only the first time zone.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising: forming a second group of those users whosesentiment values expressed relative to a second portion of the contentare within a specified tolerance value of each other, wherein thesentiment values of the group of users are expressed within a seconddefined period during the broadcast of the program; associating a secondtime zone with the second group; dropping from consideration, responsiveto the second time zone not being used in the sentiment analysis reportof the broadcast program, a second sentiment of the second groupexpressed relative to the second portion, wherein the shifting isresponsive to the time zone being used in the sentiment analysis reportof the broadcast program.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:segmenting a content of a broadcast program into a plurality ofsegments, wherein a segment comprises an amount of the content up to apoint in the content that will have been broadcast in the time zonebefore broadcast in another time zone reaches the point in the content,the portion being the segment.
 12. A computer usable program productcomprising one or more computer-readable storage devices, and programinstructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices,the stored program instructions comprising: program instructions toanalyze social media inputs (inputs) from a plurality of users, whereinthe inputs are specific to a content of a broadcast program, theanalyzing determining a sentiment value expressed relative to a portionof the content by a user in the plurality of users; program instructionsto form a group of those users whose sentiment values expressed relativeto the portion of the content are within a specified tolerance value ofsentiment value expressed by the user; program instructions to assign tothe group a time zone of a location extracted from a social media inputof the user; program instructions to insert a fabricated event in thebroadcast program, wherein the fabricated event evokes a predictedsentiment value; program instructions to compute a confidence valuecorresponding to the time zone by comparing a sentiment value of aresponse by the group to the fabricated event with the predictedsentiment value; and program instructions to confirm that the group isplaced in the time zone responsive to the confidence value exceeding athreshold.
 13. The computer usable program product of claim 12, furthercomprising: program instructions to identify a channel that isbroadcasting the program in a region in the time zone where the group isplaced; program instructions to analyze a second program that wasbroadcast on the channel prior to the program; program instructions toconstruct the fabricated event such that the fabricated event is relatedto the second program; and program instructions to cause, as a part ofthe inserting, the fabricated event to be presented via the channel. 14.The computer usable program product of claim 13, wherein the sentimentvalues of the group of users are expressed within a defined periodduring the broadcast of the program, the group of users including theuser, and wherein the program instructions to confirm is responsive tothe group receiving the fabricated event via the channel.
 15. Thecomputer usable program product of claim 12, further comprising: programinstructions to construct the fabricated event such that the fabricatedevent is related to an entity corresponding to a region in the time zonewhere the group is placed.
 16. The computer usable program product ofclaim 12, further comprising: program instructions to shift, by anamount of time on a program continuum timeline, a sentiment of the groupexpressed relative to the portion of the content such that the sentimentof the group aligns with a time when the portion was broadcast in thetime zone; and program instructions to output a sentiment analysisreport of the broadcast program, the report comprising time-shiftedsentiment values of a plurality of groups, wherein the plurality ofgroups is scattered across a plurality of time zones, and wherein thebroadcast begins at different times relative to Zulu time in differenttime zones in a rolling manner.
 17. The computer usable program productof claim 12, further comprising: program instructions to compute thesentiment of the group by applying a function to the sentiment valuesexpressed by the users in the group relative to the portion of thecontent.
 18. The computer usable program product of claim 12, whereinthe computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage devicein a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code istransferred over a network from a remote data processing system.
 19. Thecomputer usable program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usablecode is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server dataprocessing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloadedover a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computerreadable storage device associated with the remote data processingsystem.
 20. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one ormore computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readablestorage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of theone or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one ormore processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the storedprogram instructions comprising: program instructions to analyze socialmedia inputs (inputs) from a plurality of users, wherein the inputs arespecific to a content of a broadcast program, the analyzing determininga sentiment value expressed relative to a portion of the content by auser in the plurality of users; program instructions to form a group ofthose users whose sentiment values expressed relative to the portion ofthe content are within a specified tolerance value of sentiment valueexpressed by the user; program instructions to assign to the group atime zone of a location extracted from a social media input of the user;program instructions to insert a fabricated event in the broadcastprogram, wherein the fabricated event evokes a predicted sentimentvalue; program instructions to compute a confidence value correspondingto the time zone by comparing a sentiment value of a response by thegroup to the fabricated event with the predicted sentiment value; andprogram instructions to confirm that the group is placed in the timezone responsive to the confidence value exceeding a threshold.